


A Good Day for Monster Scout Cookies

by CryptidMetaphor



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Alphyne centric, Alphynecentric, Everything is Fine AU, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-24 03:00:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17696390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CryptidMetaphor/pseuds/CryptidMetaphor
Summary: Undyne's come home after a spending a long time away. What better way to celebrate that than buying a ton of cookies from the ever roaming monster scouts?





	1. Chapter 1

Same time, same reason, same feeling as always. Undyne jolted awake and stared up at the ceiling, feeling a bit stunned and frowning deeply. Her eye followed the movements of the slow, if slightly crooked ceiling fan. She was covered in sweat, but she didn’t know if it was from fear or something else. The early morning air was cold, almost frigid, but her skin felt hot even despite the chill the air had on the sweaty surface.

After some long minutes, Undyne turned her head to look at the time. It flashed in blocky red numbers, cutting through the still dark easily, but even so she didn’t register what time it was for at least a good ten seconds. It was 4:18am. She lingered on the clock for a few seconds more before looking over at the bundle of blankets just next to her. A long, thick yellow tail stuck out from the bottom, twitching slightly as the bundle of blankets rose and fell with the soft sounds of snorting.

Not for the first time, Undyne realized she was home.

Slowly, she sat up and swung her feet over the side of the bed. It was going to be another couple of hours before Alphys would even start getting ready for work. That was enough time, wasn’t it? Undyne twisted around and reached out to touch the bundle of blankets, but didn’t even make it halfway before changing her mind. She stood up, pulled on her sweatpants that she left on the floor and left the bedroom.

It was dark. That made sense, it was early morning and the middle of winter. Of course it’d be dark. She moved slowly across the room and into the kitchen. The light turned on after a few seconds of feeling against the wall, the fluorescent light harsh and making her squint. She should have been used to it by now, but now she wasn’t sure if she’d ever be.

The coffee maker sat on the counter on her left side, the pot still half full of day old coffee. It smelled like it was cold, and Undyne grimaced. Bizarrely, she hoped for the first time that Alphys hadn’t been just drinking old coffee because she simply hadn’t felt like brewing a new pot. That couldn’t be sanitary. As soon as that thought struck her, she realized that yes, Alphys probably did do exactly that, and she sighed to herself and began to rinse the pot out to brew more.

The smell of fresh coffee had become a small source of comfort in this last week. Before, she hadn’t really liked the bitter taste of black coffee; she vastly preferred tea. But nowadays, it was a friendly reminder. She wasn’t sure of what yet, but she knew it was friendly.

She checked the time on her phone. The cracked screen displayed the numbers 4:30. Well, at least Alphys would be awake soon. Undyne ran her fingers along the rim of her coffee mug, still left unsipped. Maybe she should try to do something, since her girlfriend has been so helpful during this past week. Maybe she could make breakfast?

Yeah. Yeah! Undyne took a huge gulp of her coffee and stood up from the kitchen table. Waffles sounded like the perfect breakfast for such a perfect girlfriend.

It was easier said than done. Undyne was able to mix all the ingredients together exceptionally easily; she was even certain that she managed to powderise some of the eggshells that ended up breaking off into the batter. Unfortunately, using the waffle iron was apparently beyond her area of expertise. It was also beyond her area of basic knowledge. The smoke detector kicked on within the first few minutes of closing the iron, because apparently at a few minutes at the temperature she set it to that was too long to cook a waffle for. Now she had charcoal and fire for breakfast.

As she tried to pry open the waffle iron with her bare hands, she heard the bedroom door open. Followed was the sound of Alphys coughing. “U-Undyne? I’m coming up behind you.”

Undyne leaned over to the window just above the kitchen sink and pushed it open. It was startlingly smokey in here now. Alphys appeared next to her, on her right side, and smiled happily.

“Oh! You’re m-making waffles. B-b-but...” she chuckled nervously as Undyne continued to try to pry the iron open. It broke, but not from the appropriate side. The joint cracked, and it in fact split apart. Unfortunately, it was in seperate pieces. Undyne sighed, “Oh...”

“Sorry, Alphys. I guess I kind of forgot...”

“No! That’s okay. We c-can take the rest of the batter and make pancakes instead! Why don’t you set up the New Mew Mew show? I’ve been stockpiling all the new episodes!”

Immediately her face lit up, the shame from her failure already beginning to fade. “Oh yeah? Awesome! You’re the best, babe.” Undyne leaned down and kissed Alphys on the snout, her heart soaring when Alphys squeaked and turned red in response. She really missed that, even if she did feel more than a little disappointed that her attempt at cooking went totally not according to plan. However she didn’t want to break any more of Alphys’s common household appliances, so she did as asked.

In no time, the whole apartment was filled with the pleasant smell of fluffy pancakes. Undyne sat on the couch and mostly watched Alphys cook, feeling a warm fluttering sensation in her chest. More than that, she felt insanely lucky. Not only to be home, but to have been able to come home to Alphys.

As it turned out, Undyne had done a good job turning the eggshells to powder. There was barely an unusual crunch to the pancakes, and it helped that Alphys had drowned both stacks in syrup. Usually it was far too sickeningly sweet for her, but this time around Undyne found herself appreciating the taste. Even if it wasn’t up her alley.

They were able to get through two and a half episodes together before it was time for Alphys to start getting ready. Unable to procrastinate any longer, she was forced to stand up and collect the plates. “I gotta go get ready now. I-is there anything you want for dinner tonight?”

“Pizza sounds great.”

Alphys giggled, “You’ve changed a lot, ‘Dyne.” The way she said it almost sounded concerned, despite the laughter.

“Well, you haven’t changed a bit, nerd.” 

“Okay. That’s fair.” More giggles, this time more genuine. Then, her tone shifted into obvious nervousness, “Well, I need to go. Call me if you have any trouble okay?”

“Of course, babe.”

“I—...” Alphys swallowed, and tried to sound firm, “I m-mean it Undyne. If you need help, you can call.”

“I got it, babe.” Undyne rolled her eye, “C’mon, it’s only been a week. Give me time to adjust.”

“Well, o-okay.” Alphys leaned knelt in front of the couch and leaned it for a hug, which Undyne graciously accepted with bone-crushing passion. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Alphys. Have a good day at work.”

And then she was gone. The door clicked shut, and aside from the sound of the television softly buzzing it was aggravatingly quiet. Undyne lay on the couch, staring at the television screen. They needed a new tv. They could afford a new television. Right? Alphys had this new job that she’s been excelling at. God, this television was so old. A box with a bulging screen just wasn't going to cut it. 

Undyne threw herself into a standing position. There had to be something else she could do other than complaining mentally about their old as sin box television. But what? Her eye fell on the kitchen, seeing and also smelling the mess she and Alphys made in their attempts to make breakfast.

Cleaning. That was something she could do. Undyne took out a rag and held it confidently, determined to clean out all the muck and bacteria their lack of skilled cooking left behind. She owed it to herself and to Alphys.

It took all of ten minutes. The floor was so clean that she could eat off of it, and she would if she had to. But she didn’t have to. Not anymore. The counters and all the dishes were clean as well. Strange, this didn’t take nearly as long as it did before. Strange. Undyne felt a small pinch in the middle of her chest. Now what?

A workout. Physical maintenance. That’s what.

She was limited to thirty minutes. That was what the doctor told her. Too much and she could end up really hurting herself. Oh well, a body-weight workout never hurt anyone. Not anyone who did the exercises right, anyway. The physical exertion did her mind some good, but it was done far too quickly. Her muscles weren’t even tired. She lie on the ground, staring up at the ceiling again. The living room ceiling as at least a little different from the bedroom. It was higher up, mostly barren save for some Christmas lights Alphys had hung up at some point and never took down. She liked watching anime with those lights on instead of just in the dark. Undyne had to admit, it was nice for atmosphere.

A knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts. Undyne sat up and stared at the door for a few long moments, before a second attempt at a knock got her to her feet to answer it. Was Alphys expecting a package or…

“Hello! Monster Scout cookies, here for your snacking indulgences!”

She felt her heart fall like a stone into her stomach. It wasn’t the suddenness of their pitch that scared her, or the fact that they seemed to leap into her home the moment she opened the door. She knew this monster; from the Marshes. Undyne stared at this armless raptor child for a long time, trying to convince herself that this was a different monster.

They had to have noticed the look on her face, because their smile quickly faded, “Lady, are you okay?”

“Uh...” she choked. No, this wasn’t. It couldn’t be. Surely not. That was all the way in the Deadland Marshes, and this was a much younger monster. This was a child! Undyne took a deep breath, and tried to calm down.

“...should I come back later? You’re all sweaty.”

When she finally managed to shake herself from the thoughts, she looked at the monster kid again. And suddenly they looked all too different than the one she thought she’d seen. “So, uh, c-cookies huh?”

“Oh, yeah! The school is having a fundraiser to help monster vets! So I’ve been walking all around, selling to whoever I have to. Without monster vets, we couldn’t have pets! And I love my cat.”

Undyne blinked, her eye going wide for a second. A fundraiser for veterinarians? Well, that was probably a good cause. Animals needed medical care too, whether they were made of blood or magic. “Well. Okay. I’ll take two of each.”

The way the kid’s face lit up was almost enough to put Undyne entirely at ease. But still, she couldn’t look them in the face. Lest the pinching inside of her chest gets worse again. Instead she focused on the boxes stacked almost comically on top of the kid’s head. Were they holding their entire stock that way?

“All right, cool!” They bowed, and the stack of boxes fell and clattered on the floor. Surprisingly, none of the boxes broke open. “I, uh, don’t have any arms. Sorry about that.”

“It’s, uh, fine.” Undyne bent over to pick up the boxes, deciding to pick up a few extra of her favorite cookies, thin mints. Apparently this kid had a huge talent of carrying their entire stock of cookies on their head.

“I think it’ll be one-hundred and thirty bucks, dude!”

That was...more expensive than she remembered. What, were they charging per cookie now? Undyne sighed and got out her wallet, still avoiding looking them in the face. It was getting harder to even have them there now, near her; hearing their voice. The pinch was harsher now, bigger. “Here ya go. Now scram. Stay in school.”

“Wow, a tip!” the kid yipped gleefully, “You’re the best lady!”

She slammed the door, only somewhat hoping she didn’t hurt their face. Her hand hit the wall in an attempt to keep herself balanced, and she became aware suddenly that her breathing had gone funny. It was hard to catch her breath. Undyne paused, focused on breathing deep. It was hard to keep at it at first, but eventually it got easier until finally she could control her breathing again.

Undyne slid onto the floor and sat there. This was admittedly a little harder than she thought it would be. Maybe Alphys was onto something when she told Undyne to get help.

Oh. Alphys. She pulled out her phone and sighed in relief that there weren’t any new messages. In the same breath, Undyne unlocked her phone and typed out her own message.

Hey! I just got us a fuckton of cookies from the monster scouts! We can eat and be garbage all weekend!

It took effort to make that sound chipper, and for a few moments she felt like it was too much. But she felt confident that Alphys would think that the day was going by normally. When Alphys didn’t respond for thirty seconds, Undyne decided she was busy and stood up. Cookie boxes were everywhere, and she sighed. Well, at least there was something to do now. She stood and started to pick up the boxes to organize them.


	2. Chapter 2

“Was it that kid from next door?” Alphys munched on a mouthful of a marshmallow sandwich cookie in the shape of a cartoon rabbit. Apparently they were a new Scout product called Cini-Buns.

Undyne was kind of just nibbling absently on her own cookies. The feeling of that aching pinch was still more prevalent in her chest than she wanted to admit it was. She almost convinced herself to tell Alphys about it, but she decided it wasn’t worth worrying her over. “I dunno. Never, uh, never seen the kid before in my life.” Her throat flexed as the lie came out. She knew she’d seen that kid somewhere before. In the marshes. But…

“You said they looked like an armless raptor?”

“They were an armless raptor.”

“Oh,” Alphys giggled and dug out another handful of Cini-Buns, “Their family moved in last year. They’ve b-been visiting at least once a week for the last few months.”

Oh. So they had new neighbors? That was news to her. It didn’t really put her anymore at ease. If anything, she felt a little more stressed out that this kid, who looked creepily similar, would be coming over once a week. Undyne hoped that it wouldn’t last, or at least that kid’s cookie selling thing was their time to visit this week.

“Are you okay? You look a little, uh, s-sweaty...”

“Huh?” Undyne snapped back to reality and saw the clear concern on Alphys’s face, and immediately tried to cover, “Oh yeah! Just, y’know, weird bein’ back and all! A lot’s changed since I’ve been gone...”

“Y-yeah...”

Undyne dug out another cookie and started to nibble on that. It tasted distastefully chalky. She wasn’t sure how she was going to deal with living next to someone who looked so familiar to who she saw in the marshes. They looked just like them. Could there be some kind of relation…? She shook her head. No. Thoughts like that weren’t going to help today’s weirdness at all.

“Hey, m-maybe you’re on edge because you’ve been cooped up all week! Maybe it’s about time you g-get out. Want to go for a walk when I get off work?”

A lazy smile appeared on her face as Undyne toyed a little with Alphys’s tail as it flopped in her lap. “I think that sounds real nice, ‘Phy.”

“Great! I’ll dress in my new M-Mew Mew jogging outfit!” Alphys’s tail wagged a little, slapping Undyne’s lap. It stung a little, but seeing Alphys happy was really adorable. “I—I kind of got out of routine while you were gone.”

“I noticed. Your scales are a lot paler than before.” Undyne grinned as Alphys’s face went almost completely red, “But a walk sounds great. It kind of sucks trying to find things to do around this place.”

The couch shifted a bit as Alphys moved and crawled over and laid on top of Undyne. A small but sharp pain stuck Undyne in her side, but outside of a short wince she didn’t let it show. A long sigh escaped her lips.

“So, when do you need to be back at work?”

“I have another ten minutes.”

“Do, uh, do you wanna make out?”

 

The next four hours were a little bit of torture as Undyne struggled to find things to do to pass the time. She was so used to having a structure, more of a schedule to her day than this. Sitting down and watching television was just odd. And time passed by at such a crawl that she could swear the minutes were really hours and she was just going slowly insane. It didn’t help, now that she knew that kid lived just next door. They could come back at any time, and she couldn’t really do anything but answer the door. Sure she could just leave it, but that’d be rude.

When the time finally came for Alphys to be home, it was the biggest relief in the world. Undyne practically pounced on her and hugged her. “Ready to go?” She was practically bouncing with glee.

Alphys seemed a tad tired, but smiled anyway. “Yeah! Well, no actually. I n-need to get changed. But it’d be worth it for you to sleep a full eight hours for once!”

“Uh, yeah. We’ll see about that.”

She didn’t know she was so full of energy. Almost an entire week with nothing really to do would do that to a person, she supposed. It felt way too liberating to go out on this walk. It wasn’t like she was stuck in that apartment, she could have left any time she wanted to. Why didn’t she?

It felt nice, though, to be doing this with Alphys again. Holding her hand, feeling the chill of the air and seeing the colors of the sky as the sun set. Purples and reds mixing together in soft gradients into a deep burnt orange as it slid down into the horizon. The sun, technically already set, was blocked by the mountains over to the west.

The town had changed. While the residential area remained the same, during their walk Undyne was forced to confront the fact that that a good amount of the stores and the restaurants she and Alphys enjoyed going to had closed down and been replaced. According to Alphys, they’d been replaced at least twice each. Where there was once a ramen shop had once been a pizza place and was now a regular Japanese food place.

“Some of the places here…” Alphys explained as she gently rubbed Undyne’s hand with her thumb, “W-well, they couldn’t turn a profit fast enough. It’s just been one shut down after a-another here.”

“S’at so...” Undyne hummed softly. Well, they wouldn’t be eating anywhere familiar for Undyne’s first week home. Maybe instead… “Hey, Alphys! Let’s go to Ebbot Lake!”

It had been such a long time, and she wanted to know if the targets she’d hung up were still there. She was doubtful, but at the very least that spot was nonetheless special to both her and Alphys.

“That does sound like a good idea...” Alphys scratched her chin thoughtfully. “Y-yeah! Let’s do it. I haven’t been there in, like, a year!”

Undyne grinned. Finally, something familiar!

 

It was actually a little bittersweet. Walking through the woods to get to the lake was nostalgic in an almost lethargic kind of way. Uncomfortable at worst, really. The trees were no different from when she last walked through, but the energy here felt different. She couldn’t guess how.

“I hope you don’t, U-Undyne,” Alphys dug through her bag, “But I brought some of the cookies!” She brought out a box of Monster Munches and Taffy Fangs. “W-well, it’s not a dinner but we can sit and pig out! Rot our teeth, right?”

“Sounds like fun,” Undyne smiled genuinely.

 

The forest opened up into a large clearing, filled up mostly with a large, deep blue lake. While mostly appearing still, towards the south end was a tail that flowed out into a river surrounding Ebbot City, and to the west just beyond the two girls approaching it was a softly burbling waterfall that fed into the aquatic loop. Hanging from several trees at varying distances were thick circles cut from logs with big red rings painted crudely on them, complete with a sloppy red dot in the middle. Each target’s paint had dripped somewhat because Undyne had hung them before they could begin to try. Small divots and cracks decorated each from a lot of use and accuracy.

“Yeah! They’re all still here!” Undyne nearly jumped with glee and ran over to the lake. The targets were hung up all around the outside of the lake, but Undyne hadn’t seen any on her way over. Those must have fallen or been knocked off their branches by other monsters using them. Some trees even had some frayed rope still tied to them.

“Where do you want to sit, Undyne?” Alphys smiled up at her. “This is your spot, you choose!”

Undyne smiled happily and moved toward the lake. It was a bit rougher terrain than she remembered, with wetter ground and more stones near the shore that made her stumble a few times. Water splashed around her ankles as she walked straight into the lake, the feel of the chill and wetness sinking into her boots finally letting a wave of comfort wash over her. She stood there, staring at the treeline for a moment before looking down at the water.

It was still bright enough to see her reflection. Ripples still kicked out around her legs from her intrusion, colliding and shaking. It completely destroyed her image, making it unrecognizable. She wondered if there was anything under there. Anything that would jump out at them. No, she thought, that’s ridiculous. There’s nothing dangerous in the water. But she couldn’t take her eyes off of it. 

What if…?

“Undyne!” She heard Alphys laughing, “I know you want to go s-swimming, but it’s too cold for me right now! Uh, Undyne?”

“Hm?”

“Are you okay? You look a little, uh, c-contemplative?”

It was difficult to break the habit. To not assume that something was lurking just beneath the surface of the water. Undyne swallowed, her throat flexing dryly. After a few more moments, she turned and began to walk back to Alphys.

 

The dark wasn’t really when they were near the lake. Bugs would light up as the air itself grew darker, keeping the lake from falling into pitch blackness. Sitting here with Alphys and watching the bugs buzz clumsily in the air was comforting. Therapeutic even. The marshmallowy cookies combined with those minty-chocolate ones made it even better.

For the first time today, even this week, Undyne felt at ease.

“I’ll cook some ramen when we get home,” Undyne said, “It’s not much better than this, but I don’t want just marshmallows in my stomach tonight. Won’t do me any good trying to get better sleep.”

“Ah, y-yeah,” Alphys chuckled nervously, “I totally ate more than just cookies and ramen. I swear!”

“Sure...”

“So, did you want to put in some target practice before we went back?”

“Mm.” Undyne had gotten pretty comfortable against Alphys’s side, perhaps leaning a bit too hard for the little lizard. Not quite tired yet. “Sure, why not.”

So she stood, almost with a flair. It was dark, and her eyesight wasn’t exactly what it was before. Literally half of it was gone; but that wasn’t going to stop her! Using the light of the torch bugs and pure instinct, Undyne willed the spears into existence and took aim. The first few missed the mark, splashing against the trees and cutting deep into the bark. Flashes behind the trees told that the magic had cut right through. Silhouettes of something caught her eye as the blue light faded back into dark.

More spears sparked and flew across the water, splashing in a blazing splendor all around the trees. Then even more spears, and more, before Undyne sent a wall of spears blasting into the treeline just to be sure something hit. That it was dead. That her crew were safe, for now.

When finally the blue light faded the trees that were there weren’t anymore. What was left were hunks of wood still smoldering with blue embers. Nothing could have survived that.

She hadn’t realized it before, but her breathing was incredibly labored, and her heart was pounding. For some reason, her She turned around. Alphys looked stunned to say the least. She had taken several steps back, hands covering her snout as she stared at her. “U-Undyne? Th-that--you took out like, ten trees! What happened, are you okay!?”

Undyne looked at the ruined trees again. Then back to Alphys. “Yeah. I think so. Th-thought I saw something. A mountain lion. Got spooked. That’s all.”

“Do you want to t-talk about it?”

“No! No. I just—let’s go home.”

“O-o-oh. Okay, I’ll clean up the boxes.”

 

Her chest felt tense, and the painful pinch in her chest was back with a force. As they walked back, Undyne tried those deep breathing exercises Alphys had shown her. It helped a little bit. Unfortunately by the time they made it back into their apartment, she still felt just as on edge as before. Maybe more so than on her first night back. It was difficult, especially considering no matter how much she focused on her breathing she couldn’t not notice that weird way Alphys was side-eying her.

But she was fine. She promised Alphys she was fine. So she was definitely fine. It’s fine.

Alphys gently shut the door behind them as Undyne flopped over the back of the couch, face-planting into the cushions. They’d forgotten to turn off the television, and the Mew Mew screen was still paused on the ending credits. At this point the image was probably burned into the television screen. Undyne stared at the image, mindless and tired.

A pair of hands moved her legs just slightly and Alphys sat down. Neither of them really said anything, and after it was obvious that Undyne wasn’t going to talk about it Alphys grabbed the remote and turned on another episode of the anime. She watched that for a while, with Undyne not really keeping up with it. It wasn’t like she was deep in thought; she wasn’t. She just wasn’t.

By the time the episode was over, Undyne hadn’t really had a coherent thought that wasn’t about what happened at the lake. In fact, she hadn’t really retained or remembered anything about today. Was she remembering to blink? Was she just…?

“Do you want to go to bed, Undyne?”

“Hmm? Oh. Yeah, sure.”

 

As usual, sleep didn’t come easy. Undyne lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling fan again as it rotated crookedly. Her stomach hurt, too full of sugary treats and anxiety to be able to rest easy. She pulled the comforter over herself and tried to focus on something else. Anything else.

A body pressed up against her back, and for a moment Undyne tensed up. Then, she heard Alphys say, “I’ve got you, ‘Dyne. Y-you don’t have to worry about the marshes anymore.”

She couldn’t help but crack a smile. It was a nice sentiment, but Undyne didn’t know if she’d ever be able to stop worrying. She had to come home too soon, and while she was glad to be back she knew things were a disaster out on the marshes. Without her, without her spears, would they really be okay out there?

There was nothing she could really do about it anyway. Undyne pulled the blankets tighter, and tried to focus on Alphys’s presence and fall asleep.


End file.
